


Mission: Engaged

by Rumaan



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, F/M, Romance, Spy Caper, The Man From U.N.C.L.E AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 17:24:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5635483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rumaan/pseuds/Rumaan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The mission to extract Madge Undersee from the District 13 Occupied Seam was meant to be easy - sadly no one told the giant chasing Peeta that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mission: Engaged

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Justsummerborn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justsummerborn/gifts).



> This a birthday present for the lovely Cata, who requested a Man From U.N.C.L.E Gadge au. I hope you like it, dear Cata!
> 
> This takes place in an alternate universe where the Capitol and District 13 have carved up Panem into their spheres of hegemony and a Cold War style scenario is in place.

“Still there,” Madge said with a quick look over her shoulder.

Peeta swore under his breath and cursed Effie Trinket once more for sending him into District 12 on what she said was an “easy peasy job, Peeta, you’ll be in and out in no time with the girl.”

Except no one thought to mention that District 13 would be sending in one of their own and that he was a fucking giant with super human abilities apparently.

“Squeeze the car through there,” Peeta ordered as he leaned out the window and got some shots off. One seemed to hit and the giant went down with a pained grunt.

 _Finally_ he thought. _Now time to implement phase three._

“Er…I’m not sure coming down here was a good idea,” Madge said with some derision in her voice as the car was now wedged between two rickety houses and wasn’t going anywhere.

“Wind down your window,” he said and once she’d done this, he stretched across and smashed the glass of one of the houses. “Now climb through there.”

She gave him an inscrutable look but did as he said anyway. He breathed a sigh of relief as he followed her. He could see the fence that separated the District 13 occupied Seam to the Town, which was occupied by the Capitol. Once he was across there, he’d have completed his mission and Madge would be in their hands. Effie Trinket would happy to get one over that traitor Plutarch Heavensbee and Peeta would be one step closer to earning his freedom.

However, the mutant giant had other ideas and Peeta almost stopped in disbelief when he caught sight of the dark haired man pursuing them through the building, but he got the zip line set up and was soon over the dividing line with Madge and was able to grin as he cut the line, causing the chasing agent from District 13 to fall on the other side of the fence.

Peeta might not have chosen to go into this work, but he did enjoy getting one over people.

\--------------

However, he wasn’t smiling the next day when he was pinned against the wall by the giant he thought he’d left behind on the Seam side of District 12. Effie Trinkett was smiling as she ran her hands along the dusty books and Peeta could only think that she’d been tempted into the arms of Coin and District 13 the same way Plutarch Heavensbee had.

“Release him,” Plutarch said, coming into the old justice building.

Peeta massaged his neck and glared at the other three men. “What is this about?”

“Peeta meet Gale Hawthorne, Gale meet Peeta Mellark,” Effie said, smiling. “From now on the pair of you are partners. Isn’t that lovely?”

“What?!” both agents said outraged and in synchronisation.

“We have a special mission for the pair of you, along with Madge Undersee.”

Glaring at Effie, Peeta snapped, “So, I wasn’t to bring her out of the Seam because she had important significance?”

“Oh, your mission wasn’t a lie,” Plutarch said. “However, we needed to camouflage the fact that District 13 and the Capitol are working together hence the need for Gale to chase you down. But Madge Undersee absolutely remains the key to our mission.”

Peeta looked at Gale Hawthorne and saw that he looked about as thrilled with this revelation as Peeta felt.

“This Madge Undersee, why is she so valuable?” Gale asked.

“It’s not her per se, more her family connections. Her father was Mayor of District 12, meant to be an unfailingly loyal servant of President Snow, but he defected before the end of the war and has been working with the Capitol ever since, but a couple of weeks ago he went missing. However, just last week, our intelligence found trace of him in District 1, where his brother-in-law, Seneca Crane, works for the Bijou siblings. All three of them were prominent President Snow supporters.”

“So? What’s that got to do with Madge?” Peeta asked.

“We believe that Crane and the Bijous are planning on trying to recreate another Snow style dictatorship, which is something they need Mayor Undersee for.”

“Why would they need a former mayor of a tiny little district like 12?” Gale asked.

“Because Undersee is something of a political genius. It was why the Capitol was so keen to acquire him despite his past affiliations,” Effie said and Hawthorne snorted in disgust. “He knew all the strategic weakness of the districts. Information that would be vital in reuniting Panem and holding it together for a totalitarian regime.”

“What’s the plan?” Peeta asked asked.

\-----------

“Take it off,” Gale said, storming into the boutique in District 1 where Peeta was watching Madge twirl around in a fabulously patterned material that was brightly dyed.

“Why?” Peeta asked.

“My woman would not wear this.”

“Your woman?” Madge asked with raised eyebrows before shooting a glare in Peeta’s direction. “I didn’t realise Mockingjay agents were running the Town these days?”

Gale stalked over to her, took her left hand in his and slipped a ring onto her third finger. “We are now engaged.”

Madge looked towards Peeta helplessly but all he could say was, “She looks perfectly respectable.”

Snorting in amusement, Gale said, “Maybe for someone from the Capitol with your garish colours and ridiculous hair. But for the fiancée of a District 13 architect, she needs to look more sophisticated and less like a child has been at her clothes with a crayon.”

Clicking his fingers, Gale called over several of the shopping assistants and directed them to clothing that he wanted and handed them out to Madge, who stood on a podium and tapped her foot impatiently.

Peeta smothered his smile behind his hand as he watched the proceedings. The giant was nothing if not entertaining with how he conducted himself.

\-----------

Gale sighed at the constraints this mission was placing on him. He hated having to pretend to be so stupid that he hadn’t even noticed the goons following him. Madge’s uncle had met with them earlier in the day and had been suspicious of Gale’s identity. His height in itself generally put people on edge, but Seneca Crane was astute, too, and he had not brought Gale’s cover story in the slightest. They had all agreed on that and just ten minutes past Mellark had sidled up to where he and Madge had stood overlooking the famous fountain of lovers. True to his role as her fiancé, he’d given her a coin to toss into the fountain, nuzzling into her neck as she’d thrown the silver into the water.

“There are two of Crane’s thugs following you,” Mellarke had said out the side of his mouth as he flipped through a guide book on District 1. “They are probably going to try and ambush you somewhere quiet. Remember that you are an architect, Gale, not a Mockingjay agent.”

Gale had rolled his eyes. Despite what the Capitolian thought, he did not need to be constantly reminded of his duties. So he wasn’t as benign and cheerful looking as Mellark, however, that didn’t mean he couldn’t act when he needed to. He _was_ a spy and a damned good one.

Tucking her hand through his arm, Madge directed him to walk through the old career training centre. District 1 had been one of the biggest career districts in the old regime under Snow and its centre was designed to look like something out of the old world – a massive building with columns and arches. The information board they briefly stopped at said that it was a recreation of the colosseum of Ancient Rome, whatever that was.

“It’s pretty,” Madge said with a smile up at him.

 _Not as pretty as you_ he thought, but luckily he was able to swallow the words before they escaped his mouth.

Madge was unlike anything he’d ever seen before with her pale blonde hair, rosy cheeks and dimpled smiles. It was strange to think that anything as beautiful as her had come out of the dank Seam, but she had and he scowled as he thought about how Mellark had thwarted him in getting her out to the richer, more glamorous Capitol controlled Town.

“Yeah,” he said gruffly instead.

Before she could say anything more, the two minions jumped out at them.

“Give us your money,” one said, holding a gun up pointed towards Gale.

“What? No!” he replied instinctively.

The goon switched where his gun was pointing to so it was aimed at Madge instead. “Give me your wallet or I will shoot your pretty lady.”

Doing his best to shelter her behind him, Gale suppressed the urge he had to smack the gun out of the thug’s hand (which would be incredibly easy with the inexperienced way he was holding it), and beat both men into a bloody pulp for even daring to threaten him or Madge. However, he felt a faint squeeze on his arm and he looked down into Madge’s face, who stared steadily up at him with a warning in her eyes.

Deflating a little, he pulled his wallet from his pocket and handed it over.

“And her ring!” the man demanded.

Before Gale could protest, Madge had pulled the large diamond from her finger and handed it out. For a brief moment, he felt a pang of sadness at just how easily and quickly she’d taken the ring off.

The minion scanned down their clothing, and his eyes rested on the watch which decorated Gale’s left wrist. It was the only memento he had of his father, who had died when he was young, leaving his mother with three children and another on the way. He’d had to grow up fast after that, needing to help support his family.

“The watch – give it to me.”

“No. The watch is worth nothing.”

“Then you won’t mind losing it.”

Mist descended over Gale’s eyes for a second and he went to throw a punch at the guy for even daring to demand he hand over his father’s watch, but Madge’s surprisingly strong grip held him back.

Dragging in a couple of deep breaths, Gale forced his anger down and regained control of his mind, squeezing his hand into a tight fist until he was calm enough to unstrap his watch and hand it across.

The two guys eyed him warily, but he had himself in check now and heaved a heavy sigh. “That was my father’s watch. Make sure you take care of it.”

Without another word, the two men took off, leaving Gale standing there in fuming silence.

“That could’ve gone better,” Mellark said, emerging out of the shadows. “Why did you try to hit him?”

“Someone from District 13 would not give up a treasured heirloom easily, architect or not. It is better to assume that Seneca Crane would know this.”

He was proud of how easily the lie slid from his lips.

\-----------

“Here,” Gale said, taking Madge’s left hand in his and sliding a replacement ring on her finger.

She lifted an eyebrow. “Isn’t that a little soon? Won’t my uncle become suspicious that I have a replacement the afternoon after having my previous engagement ring stolen?”

He curled his lip and said, “I don’t know how the men previously in your life would act, but no fiancé worth his salt would not go out immediately to replace his beloved fiancée’s engagement ring as soon as possible.”

“And you, of course, are an excellent fiancé,” she said mockingly.

Lip twitching, Gale eyed her admiringly. He always liked a woman who gave as good as she got and from he’d seen of Madge Undersee, she was not shy at expressing herself.

“Of course,” he agreed.

\-----------

Unlike Madge and Gale, Peeta did not have an invitation to the exclusive Bijou party at the racetrack. Instead, he was reduced to pickpocketing a middle aged man with lank black hair who looked as if he imbibed rather too freely from a flask on a regular basis.

Flashing a charming smile, Peeta apologised for bumping into him and discretely slipped the gold edged invite into his inside pocket.

His target for his party was the striking Cashmere Bijou, the real brains behind her charismatic playboy brother, Gloss, who headed the successful Bijou Corporation.

Spotting the leggy blonde across the room, Peeta smoothed his hair back and longed for the day that he would no longer have to do this. He wanted nothing more than to be free of this role and to be able to ask his long time crush, Katniss Everdeen, out. He had been working on softening her towards him during his time back in the Capitol and he thought it was working.

Scanning the room quickly but minutely, he could see Madge and Gale already talking to her uncle, Crane, and Gloss, who looked very taken with Madge’s charms. From the awkward set of Gale’s shoulders, he was not enjoying how the handsome philanderer was flirting with Madge.

Peeta suppressed a smile and stalked confidently towards Cashmere. If there was one thing he was good at then it was enchanting socialites.

\--------

Gale hadn’t meant to take his temper out on the young District 1 notables in the bathroom, but they had been the wrong – or was that the right? – side of arrogant and cocky and he was already fed up of being talked down to by these idiots who thought they were so much better than him because they were wealthy.

But he had taken his temper out on them and destroyed the bathroom in the process. It had been immensely satisfying but it had also meant that he’d had to whisk Madge away, arousing the suspicions of Crane once more, who had no doubt already heard of the large man with the District 13 accent who had broken a couple of well born noses.

He sat there in the expensive hotel suite and glowered down at the chess set on the gleaming mahogany table. He liked to play to relax, but it wasn’t working tonight. It didn’t help that both Madge and Mellark had laughed at his reaction to Gloss’ flirting with Madge. He didn’t understand their amusement. There was nothing funny about a man who tried to steal another man’s fiancée. It didn’t matter whether he and Madge were actually engaged or not, it was the principle of the matter.

There was a click of a button and music flooded through the suite. It automatically made his bad mood even worse and he put his head in his hands as the volume was turned up. It was almost as if she knew automatically which buttons of his to press.

“Turn it off,” he commanded, rising from the armchair, turning towards the bedroom and striding towards her.

She ignored him and continued to dance to the music. She should have looked ridiculous sashaying around in a pair of pyjamas and a pair of sunglasses on, but somehow she didn’t. She looked intriguing and he wanted nothing more than to watch her.

Shaking his head free from the dangerous thoughts, he went to pass her and turn the music off. However, she swayed so she was back in front of him.

“Come dance with me?” she asked.

“I don’t dance,” he replied.

“Well, I do and I need a partner.”

He went to move around her again, but she slid to the side so once more she cut him off.

“Stop it,” he said scowling down at her.

All she did was grab his hands and make him shuffle awkwardly. Clapping his hands together, he was half smiling at her antics when she suddenly lifted his right hand and slapped him across the face with it.

“What the hell was that?”

“Oops,” Madge replied with a distinct lack of regret in her voice.

“Don’t even think of doing that again,” he warned.

She gave him a sweet smile and shook his hands in time with the music lifting his left hand this time and slapping him across the face.

Breaking her hold on his hand, he moved menacingly into her space. “What did I just say?”

However, she didn’t back down like he thought she would, lifting her chin instead and throwing her sunglasses down onto one of the beds.

“So you want to wrestle? All you had to do was ask,” she said, leaping up and tackling him.

For such a small little thing, she had a strength he was unprepared for and taken unawares by her jump at him, Gale staggered backwards, whilst she locked her legs around him. 

To his surprise, and in spite of being top of his class in hand to hand combat back in District 13, Gale found Madge impossible to shake off. She was like a limpet and no matter how many surfaces he crashed them into, she clung on and hit a pressure point in his back that had him toppling backwards.

Breathing heavily, he stared up at her part in amazement and part in lust. Not only was she beautiful, but she was resourceful, too, and she constantly took him by surprise. The unwelcome realisation that he may be developing feelings for his mission had taken root that afternoon as Gloss had attempted to charm her. He hadn’t liked it. However, he did like the way she straddled him right now with her hair dishevelled and her cheeks flushed. It didn’t take much for him to think of other occasions where she might look like this.

Apparently, he was not the only one affected, as she stared down at his lips and then lowered her head. Licking his lips in anticipation, he leaned up slightly only to draw back as her face missed his and slumped down onto his shoulders. She released a breathy snore and he groaned.

She was drunk and not overcome with longing for him at all.

Sliding her off him, he got fluidly to his feet and scooped her up in his arms. Tucking her into bed, he brushed the hair back from her forehead.

“Goodnight, princess,” he said, brushing a soft kiss on her forehead.

\----------

Gale didn’t like this plan and he wished the others would stop and listen to him for a moment. Putting Madge in this much danger when he’d all but blown his cover by taking his frustrations out on those arrogant young boys was reckless.

But Mellark and Madge stubbornly refused to listen. According to them, their mission was the most important thing. He guessed he could see why from Madge’s point of view. This was an opportunity to find her father and he could understand the pull of that. However, he wasn’t sure she fully understood the risks.

Whilst Mellark was off for a date of sorts with Cashmere Bijou, Madge had been invited to lunch by her uncle. Just Madge.

He muttered and grumbled all the way to the villa, but Madge blithely ignored him and let him out of the car on the outskirts of the Villa’s land. He was going to track his way through the undergrowth to a vantage point so he could listen in to her conversation and get her the hell out of there should he need to.

It was a decent plan, one that would’ve worked, but for one minor detail: Madge.

None of them had been prepared for her betrayal or the fact that she might actually be sympathetic to her uncle’s ambitions and have wanted an in. He and Mellark had provided that opportunity and he could do nothing as he ran from Crane’s men but swear at himself for being so stupid to develop feelings for someone who’d played them all so well.

\----------

Peeta had never been so glad to see Gale’s scowling face in all his life. To think that the first time he’d meet him, he’d want to put a bullet in him and take him down permanently. He thanked his lucky stars that Gale was practically a tank.

Keeping the maniacal Crane occupied whilst Gale trod silently into the room, a bat raised over his head, ready to smash down on the unsuspecting Crane, Peeta could just about smother his smile. He wanted to shove the reality of the situation in the smug sadistic Crane’s face, but instead he continued to prompt the egotistical fanatic to relive his glory days as a Gamesmaker and outline all the brutal ways he’d killed innocent children from the districts.

It was with great pleasure that Peeta strapped Crane into the same electric chair he’d been using on him for the past half an hour. However, an argument with Gale about what to do with him afterwards broke out and in their desire to both get their own way, they’d forgotten about Crane in the rickety old relic from Snow’s presidency, which had caught fire and he’d burnt to death.

The plus was at least they didn’t have to argue about him anymore.

However, they were still at a loss about just where Madge herself was. She was with Gloss Bijou that was for sure. Crane had boasted about that, but he hadn’t let slip where they’d be going.

That was seemingly no problem for the lank black haired lush he’d pick pocketed back at the racing track who was waiting for them as they left Crane’s villa.

“Come with me,” he said grumpily as if he wished to be anywhere else.

“Who are you and why should we go with you?” Gale asked, his arms folded.

“Because I can take you to Madge and her father.”

It turned out Madge wasn’t a double agent, she was a triple agent. She’d played him and Gale and also her uncle and was working for the elusive Haymitch Abernathy and the District Resistance.

Peeta hadn’t even considered them in the equation. They were a super shadowy group, who aimed for a united Panem that would no longer be split under the hegemony of either the Capitol or District 13.

He was also another uncle-in-law.

“Madge doesn’t seem to have much luck with those,” Peeta quipped                      

“I’m her favourite,” Haymitch replied.

Gale continued to sit with folded arms and scowl at anyone who looked at him. It appeared he wasn’t impressed with either of Madge’s uncles.

\----------

In the end, it was surprisingly easy to foil the Bijous. Gloss was blinded by his desire to have Madge and was taken out after a car chase across the island where they’d been interrogating Mayor Undersee and holding Madge hostage. The downside had been that Gloss had decided to handcuff Madge to the jeep he was attempting to make a getaway in. Luckily, she’d been unhurt when they jeep had flipped over, killing Gloss outright, but that hadn’t made Gale feel any better. There was a cut on her forehead and he’d wanted to revive Gloss and kill him again for putting it there.

Ignoring her protests, he’d scooped her up in his arms and refused to let her leave his side even when they were on the boat tracking Cashmere and the vital strategic information Mayor Undersee had given them before she’d put a bullet in his brain.

However, she was a narcissist and that was ultimately her undoing. She’d been unable to resist the taunts Mellark threw at her over the coast guard’s radio and had given her location away by boasting about how much better she was than all of them, how glorious the return to a dictatorship was going to be, and how all of Peeta’s relatives would be thrown into the first Hunger Games, which she would, of course, be reinstating.

A missile had taken her out before she’d even finished talking.

Now Gale and Madge were left packing up their things in the shared hotel room.

“Where are you going?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“Not back to the Seam.”

He gave a little smile at that. “No, it’s probably not the best place for a Resistance spy to be.”

She turned to walk out of the door, but hesitated. Spinning back to face him, she said, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For not telling you I was working with Haymitch. I wanted to, but I couldn’t.”

Walking towards her, Gale said, “It’s okay. I understand why you didn’t. I would have done the same in your place.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You protect the mission at all costs.”

“You didn’t want to do that when Crane wanted to meet me for lunch. You didn’t want to send me in there alone.”

He could do nothing but stare down at her. She was right. He hadn’t wanted to protect the mission at that point. He had wanted to protect her.

Madge gave him a soft smile and her eyes drifted to his lips once more. She wasn’t drunk now and all he needed to do was lean down to kiss her. There was nothing more that he wanted to do.

However, Mellark had impeccable timing as always. Barging into the room and pretending as if he hadn’t interrupted a moment, he told Madge that Abernathy was waiting for her in the lobby.

With no more than a lingering look and a small wave of her hand, Madge walked out of the room and out of his life.

\--------------

Despite his orders, Peeta couldn’t kill Gale. He’d come to like the grumpy, hot tempered bastard. Gale apparently had no qualms – possibly because he’d stopped Gale from kissing Madge just ten minutes earlier – but was ultimately unable to pull the trigger. Mainly because Peeta had Gale’s father’s watch. How could you kill the man who returned a treasured heirloom to you?

As it turned out, it was a good thing neither of them had properly followed orders. They were both ushered out onto one of the hotel terraces, where Madge also awaited them. All three looked confusedly at each other before Haymitch appeared.

“It has been decided by all directors of the agencies we represent, that you three be teamed up for the foreseeable future. You will now take all your orders from me.”

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> A graphic set for this exists [here](http://rumaan.tumblr.com/post/136599790516/the-man-from-uncle-au-take-it-off-gale) \- if anyone can tell me how to upload those onto AO3, I'll be extremely grateful!


End file.
